Why we must all watch Hamas's raw video footage from October 7 - opinion

On a cool January morning in Texas, it was sunny outside, but darkness was present inside the Museum of Biblical Art.

With Dallas Police Department officers in the parking lot, about 100 attendees, myself included, viewed a 46-minute film produced by the IDF that compiled raw video footage from the horrific terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hamas on October 7.

Hosted by the Israeli Consulate, no phones or recording devices were allowed inside the showing. Attendees were allowed to take notes, so the quotes and descriptions included in this article are from my written notes.

Before sharing with you some of the barbaric and inhumane images included in the film, let me explain that I did not really want to see this movie, but I felt that I needed to see it.

Why the footage must be watched

As a follower of Jesus, a pastor, a radio host, a Christian Zionist, and one who just returned a few weeks ago from my latest visit to Israel, I was able to predict the contents of the film because I had read so many news accounts of the tragedies which occurred on October 7. However, as you can understand, reading media reports and even eyewitness accounts does not carry the heavy impact of actually seeing the gruesome images.

Sadly, but not surprisingly, the opponents of Israel and the Jewish people chose to spread the lies that “those attacks did not really happen” or “it was not that bad,” or “not that many people got hurt.”

The Washington Post article explained that “a small but growing group denies the basic facts of the attacks, pushing a spectrum of falsehoods and misleading narratives that minimize the violence or dispute its origins. Some argue the ambush was staged by the Israeli military to justify an invasion of Gaza. Others say that some 240 hostages Hamas took into Gaza were actually kidnapped by Israel. Some contend that the United States is behind the plot.” 

“Israel murdered their own people on October 7,” Christina Gutierrez told The Washington Post, while others shouted, “Antisemitism isn’t real.” The article goes on to quote a recent Reddit post: “So basically the Hamas attack was a false flag for Israel to occupy Gaza and kill Palestinians. Expected behavior from nazi wannabes.”

In addition to the irresponsible and hateful denials that the terrorist attacks occurred, the disturbing images in this film need to be shared to explain who Hamas really is. 

The perpetrators of the October 7 attacks, and the cheering crowds who celebrated when Israeli hostages were brought into Gaza, are not noble freedom fighters or oppressed victims of an “occupation.” The planners and attackers of October 7 are violent and evil and barbaric. Those who claim otherwise have not seen the images that I and others saw in Dallas a week ago.

Much of the footage included in the IDF compilation has already been shared online through various social media channels run by Hamas or their supporters. The raw video images in this movie come from multiple sources, including body cameras worn by the Hamas terrorists, body cams from IDF soldiers, mobile phone video recordings by terrorists or their victims, mobile phone video recordings by first responders, dash cams of vehicles, and even traffic cameras. The audio you hear is almost entirely in Arabic, with a few instances of Hebrew spoken by the victims. For the viewing audience, English subtitles were added.

As stated above, much of the horrific images shown in this IDF production was shot by the Hamas terrorists themselves. Why would evil attackers create evidence of their own evil crimes? The answers are fairly simple. The terrorists were not ashamed of their barbarism, but instead proudly wanted to share it widely. Operationally, the terrorists wanted to inform their commanders of the “success” of their missions. These videos and photos would also serve as motivation to inspire other Jew-haters to engage in violence. And, don’t discount the desire to shame their victims, adding emotional injuries to the physical ones.

As we watched the footage, the Hamas body cams showed terrorists shooting innocent kibbutzniks who were running for cover, setting houses on fire, and trying to break into safe rooms. When the attackers were unable to break down the doors of the safe rooms, these well-equipped terrorists threw grenades in through the windows to murder those inside and force the survivors to exit the rooms.

At this showing, people in Texas observed video footage of Israeli children watching their parents get shot or stabbed. In one instance, two young brothers watched a terrorist shoot their father before opening the family refrigerator to get a soda. The boys screamed and cried, the terrorist had his beverage... this one family’s tragedy seemingly a microcosm of October 7.

The film included numerous instances of attackers wearing tactical vests as they stole cars, enabling them to travel deeper into Israel than they originally planned. Intercepted audio recordings allow viewers to hear terrorists saying “Praise God!” and “God is good!” in Arabic as they beheaded an innocent man with garden tools, a task that required swing after swing, chop after chop. Other scenes included violent murderers taking selfies and proudly declaring “That’s how it’s done!” in Arabic.

Viewers of this film witnessed the crowds of the much talked about “innocent civilians in Gaza” cheer and celebrate as vehicles arrived with some of the traumatized hostages. These “civilians” punched, kicked, and spat on the Israeli hostages while their “innocent” neighbors videoed everything. These scenes seemed to enact the very words of Genesis 6:11, “the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence.” As you may know, the word translated as “violence” in that particular Bible verse is the Hebrew word “hamas.” 

The video footage from October 7 was like screen actors trying to help the audience visualize the biblical concepts of corruption and evil and violence and hatred, except that the people on video were not actors but real-life murderers and real-life victims.

The IDF-compiled film showed entire families being shot in their houses, footage captured on their own home security cameras. It showed ZAKA volunteers arriving to find pools of blood splattered among decapitated bodies, sometimes even burned bodies. Hamas radio communications, intercepted by the IDF, included the recording of one man saying about a potential hostage (in Arabic but sub-titled in English), “Bring him and let the people play with his body.” 

Other footage captured on Hamas body cams showed an attack on an IDF base near the Gaza border fence. 

With a calm demeanor, terrorists killed an entire group of soldiers and then sat down for a snack in the middle of the bodies. Cell phone videos filmed by Hamas terrorists showed them beheading IDF soldiers with knives, slowing and persistently cutting off a person’s head so they could carry it away as a trophy.

Footage captured from the location of the Nova Music Festival, a site I personally visited last month, showed terrorists shooting into the portable toilets where many of the young festival attendees tried to hide. The attackers shot repeatedly into the crowds as the young adults tried to run away, shooting continuously until someone in charge yelled, “Save your ammunition for the soldiers.” The attackers who murdered 364 people at the music festival filmed themselves walking amongst the corpses saying, “These are the dogs.”

The survivors of the first burst of gunfire at the Nova festival began to film the carnage and could be heard whispering “sheket” (Hebrew for “quiet”) to their friends as they tried to hide or pretend to be dead. Other survivors of the initial wave ran for their cars and tried to drive away, not knowing that later their charred bodies would be discovered by first responders in burned-out cars, smoke still rising from the vehicles as rescue attempts were made.

Body camera footage from other ZAKA volunteers at the concert location showed them trying to preliminarily identify victims by asking survivors to describe the tattoos of their deceased friends whose bodies had been piled in a heap, some of them killed while their hands were tied behind their backs.

The descriptions of evil and brutality and barbarism shown in these 46 minutes could go on and on. 

Those who watched this film with me in Texas or those who have seen it in places such as the Israeli Knesset or the US Capitol, we can never unsee this horror. Those who have seen it cannot forget but should not forget. We must share what the evidence makes clear, that evil exists and evil hates and evil murders and evil rapes.

If you want to know why this footage is being shown now, if you want to know why this article is being written now, remember what Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas official said in an interview in late October, that the attack against Israel was “just the beginning.” He vowed to launch “a second, a third, a fourth” attack until the country (Israel) is “annihilated.” Hamad proudly declared the desire of Hamas and other Muslim terrorist groups, “We must teach Israel a lesson, and we will do this again and again.”

The horrific images from October 7 captured on camera show the world what happened, Hamad and other Hamas leaders proudly proclaim why it happened. Despite the denials, this brutality did happen. The next steps are the responsibility of those who govern Israel or defend Israel or support Israel or pray for Israel. This is our generation’s “Never Again” moment. That is why we must watch.

The writer is a pastor, writer, and radio host in Texas who leads tours of Christ-followers to study the Bible in Israel. He actively serves with multiple organizations across Israel, helping build friendships between Christians and Jews. Learn more at IsraelByTheBook.com and TreyGraham.com.